At the Loudoun NAACP’s Board of Supervisors candidates forum last night, Republican Chair candidate John Whitbeck was asked a question about immigration, and as his been his pattern the entire campaign, Whitbeck proceeded to misleadingly, dishonestly put forth a new, reinvented narrative about himself – one with no basis in fact.
In this case, Whitbeck was asked by an audience member how Hispanic/Latinx communities in Loudoun County could feel safe with him as County Board Chair, based on his past support for Xenophobe-In-Chief Donald Trump and for allowing ICE to round up undocumented immigrants. First, as you can see in the following video, Whitbeck dishonestly claimed that he never supported such a policy. Then, he rambled about how then-Rep. Barbra Comstock (R) and he supported religious freedom after Trump’s Muslim ban in 2017. That’s nice, except…what on earth does that have to do with the question about immigration and about Hispanics/Latinos feeling safe in Loudoun County if he becomes Chairman of the Board?
By the way, according to Ballotpedia, Whitbeck’s past (and likely present) position on immigration was to “protect our communities from illegal immigration by deporting criminal aliens and giving state and local law officers the right to enforce immigration laws working with the federal government.” Also note that Whitbeck, as Virginia GOP chair, stood by Ed Gillespie, Corey Stewart, Donald Trump, etc. as they demonized Latino/Hispanic immigrants and advocated harsh, draconian immigration policies. So…what’s changed, exactly? Other than his continued attempts at reinventing himself into some sort of born-again “moderate,” from the harsh, Trump-style, right-wing Republican he’s been for years. The question is, will Loudoun County voters buy this “new” John Whitbeck on 11/5? Hint: an infinitely better option is to vote to reelect Democrat Phyllis Randall as chair!
P.S. Also, check out Whitbeck’s response to a question about whether the Loudoun County Board should advocate for ERA ratification.
When fmr. VA GOP Chair @johnwhitbeck was asked if he supported ratifying the #ERA he said “No”. Unacceptable. #ERANow #FlipLoudounBlue #Loudoun #TakeTheMajority pic.twitter.com/XVmr0GgR7r
— Loudoun Democrats (@LoudounDems) October 25, 2019
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